So long, Charlie.
“Dancing With the Stars” pro Cheryl Burke revealed that she was paired with Charlie Sheen on the ABC reality warhorse … for exactly one day.
Burke, 39, guesting on “Sex, Lies and Spray Tans” — the podcast hosted by Sheen’s ex-wife, Denise Richards — said she was initially partnered with Sheen on “DWTS” but that he called it quits after one dance lesson.
“Fun fact: I danced with Charlie for one day,” Burke said. “Maybe you don’t know but he was going to do the show.”
Burke said she received a call from the production team telling her they were going to get an A-lister — and that his team wanted Burke to orchestrate his dance moves.
“I was like, ‘Are you sure?’” she recalled. “‘Because if you’re trying to convince somebody to do the show, I might not be the right person.’ Because I hate lying, and I just don’t want to lie about how the process is.
“It’s beautiful, but it’s freaking a lot of work. I’m not even going to deny that. And there’s a lot of press and a lot of interviews, and all of this stuff.”
Burke said she then met with Sheen and “taught him a few steps” — but he was tentative about appearing on the show.
“I’m sober for almost six years, and I have a lot of compassion for him,” she said of Sheen, who’s battled his share of problems in the past. “He seemed so cool, and he was a lot of fun.
“But then he started asking me questions,” she continued. “He asked me, ‘How many interviews do we have to do? Do we have to go and do press? And I told him, ‘Yeah, we do. We’re going to do ‘GMA.’ Like we’re going to do ‘Good Morning America.’”
Burke said she wasn’t sure why Sheen eventually decided not to do Season 28 of “Dancing With the Stars,” though he told Us Weekly, in 2019, that he didn’t feel comfortable because he’s not a good dancer.
“I was very flattered by ABC and their offer,” he told Us. “But at the end of the day, I have two left feet and I just can’t dance.”
Us noted that ABC offered Sheen a pilot for a series contingent on his appearing on “Dancing With the Stars” — a fact that was confirmed by Sheen’s publicist at the time.
“I don’t know what it was,” she told Richards on the podcast. “He judged himself right away. He was like, ‘I suck at this,’ and I was like, ‘No, no, no this is just the first few steps. I taught him a waltz or something.
“We talked more than we danced to be honest. He would be a great candidate.”
Unlike Sheen, Richards did appear on “DWTS,” in Season 8 — and she said she could see why he wouldn’t want to do the show.
“He doesn’t like to work out,” she said. “There’s a lot of physical activity with dancing. … He also wouldn’t want to do interviews. It would be a great challenge for him and something that he should do, but he doesn’t like to sweat.”
Burke added that, as soon as she met Sheen and they started their first training session, she knew he was not going to appear on the show.
“He was really sweet and kind and humble, but I knew as soon as we were finished that it was probably going to be a hard no,” she told Richards. “This show brings out vulnerability in you — and if you’re not willing to be courageous or transparent in that way, this show could actually swallow you up.”
